QUEBEC — MNA Guy Ouellette has denied, under oath, any role in media leaks of critical evidence originating from Quebec’s anti-corruption unit.

“The answer is no,” Ouellette said in a Quebec City court on Thursday afternoon, responding to questions from lawyer Jacques Larochelle, who asked whether he had any responsibility, direct or indirect, for the leaks that rocked the political world in 2017.

And Ouellette systematically demolished claims made only a day earlier by former contractor Lino Zambito, who stated Ouellette told him the Liberal government moved heaven and earth to keep Robert Lafrenière as the head of the unit — l’Unité permanente anticorruption or UPAC — because it feared a more aggressive candidate, Denis Gallant.

On Wednesday, Zambito testified Lafrenière “forced” the government into renewing his own mandate using theatrics; specifically, the high-profile arrest of former Liberal deputy premier Nathalie Normandeau on the same day the provincial budget was being tabled, March 17, 2016.

Zambito claimed it was Ouellette who told him about the plan. Premier Philippe Couillard was also supposed to have specifically overruled his Public Security minister, Martin Coiteux, who had shortlisted Gallant for the job.

Zambito claimed Ouellette told him the government considered Gallant “too dangerous” and decided to make Normandeau the “scapegoat” for alleged past Liberal misdeeds.

“It was all calculated by Lafrenière,” Zambito told the court. “He brought the Liberals to their knees. It wouldn’t have looked good if we arrested Normandeau and the next day threw Lafrenière out the door.”

Asked about the allegation Thursday, Ouellette denied the story.

“I don’t think we had this discussion,” Ouellette said.

The extraordinary scene of a sitting MNA answering questions in the witness box played out before Judge André Perreault.

Ouellette arrived with his lawyer, but did not speak to reporters before or after his appearance, which lasted about an hour.

Ouellette, the MNA for Chomedey and former chairman of the legislature’s institutions committee, was summoned to court as part of a part of procedure launched by lawyers acting for Normandeau, another former Liberal who has been charged, Marc-Yvan Côté, and four others.

The lawyers are trying to dig into media leaks to have the case against the group tossed out on the grounds they have compromised their clients’ chances for a fair trial.

Normandeau, who was deputy premier in the Charest years, Côté and four others are charged with conspiracy, corruption, fraud and abuse of confidence. Their trial is scheduled to start April 9.

But as expected, the lawyers rapidly ran into a roadblock in court Thursday called parliamentary privilege.

On several specific questions asked by Larochelle — such as whether he ever had in his possession confidential evidence — Ouellette’s lawyer, François Marchand, hopped to his feet to object and shut down the line of questioning.

The same parliamentary privilege (or legal immunity) is preventing police from examining the content of Ouellette’s National Assembly-issued laptop and mobile phone, seized in October when Ouellette was arrested by UPAC as part of its own investigation into leaks.

Another lawyer, François LeBel, representing the National Assembly, also objected when a lawyer acting for the Crown, Justin Tremblay, asked Ouellette whether he could have obtained confidential documents through unofficial channels.

The result is much of the mystery over the leaks and Ouellette’s arrest in October remain shrouded.

Earlier, the UPAC investigator in the Normandeau-Côté trial, Mathieu Venne, testified he had no idea who was responsible for the leaks, which took place before Oct. 25.

That’s the date Ouellette was arrested by UPAC in connection with the leaks. On that same day, UPAC raided the homes of former UPAC officer Richard Despatie — who was fired by UPAC the same day — and Stéphane Bonhomme of the Surété du Québec.

All three were suspected by UPAC of orchestrating the leaks. Warrants unsealed in January revealed it was Despatie’s cellphone, seized from his Brossard home, that was used by UPAC as “bait” to contact and lure Ouellette away from the legislature to a Tim Hortons shop in Laurier-Station where he picked up a bag of documents planted there by police.

Ouellette was not asked any questions about that Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Bonhomme testified he had no idea who was responsible for the leaks, although he did admit to taking confidential documents to his home. He said he did it unintentionally.

Asked by lawyer Larochelle specifically if he had ever downloaded documents from the UPAC server using “Dropbox,” Bonhomme said no.

He admitted having sent to his colleagues a caricature of Lafrenière portrayed as a turtle, a comment on the length of time it takes UPAC to charge individuals.

Despatie also denied being the source of the leaks and instead used his testimony to rip his old boss Lafrenière, saying the work climate at UPAC was so “rotten,” any number of people could have been leaking information.

Bonhomme and Despatie both denied ever talking to the journalist who broke the Normandeau story, Cogeco-L’Actualité reporter Louis Lacroix, and said they had no idea who the mysterious police officer “Pierre,” who is supposed to have leaked information, really is.

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